[.ca] Out of the Dust (ISBN 0590371258)

From Amazon.com:
Like the Oklahoma dust bowl from which she came, 14-year-old narrator Billie Jo writes in sparse, free-floating verse. In this compelling, immediate journal, Billie Jo reveals the grim domestic realities of living during the years of constant dust storms: That hopes--like the crops--blow away in the night like skittering tumbleweeds. That trucks, tractors, even Billie Jo's beloved piano, can suddenly be buried beneath drifts of dust. Perhaps swallowing all that grit is what gives Billie Jo--our strong, endearing, rough-cut heroine--the stoic courage to face the death of her mother after a hideous accident that also leaves her piano-playing hands in pain and permanently scarred. Meanwhile, Billie Jo's silent, windblown father is literally decaying with grief and skin cancer before her very eyes. When she decides to flee the lingering ghosts and dust of her homestead and jump a train west, she discovers a simple but profound truth about herself and her plight. There are no tight, sentimental endings here--just a steady ember of hope that brightens Karen Hesse's exquisitely written and mournful tale. Hesse won the 1998 Newbery Award for this elegantly crafted, gut-wrenching novel, and her fans won't want to miss The Music of Dolphins or Letters from Rifka. (Ages 9 and older) --Gail Hudson

Terribly depressing with no uplifters whatsoever:
This must be one of the worst pieces of literature I have ever read in my 16 years. Thank you, Waldron Mercy Academy, for providing me with such lovely book suggestions to brighten my spirit and enrich my mind. Despite my obviously intense loathing of this book, notice I did not use the word "trash" to describe it and that's because it isn't. In fact, it's a very well-written book, done in free verse style. While the author posesses skill, I could not bring myself to enjoy this book. Why? It chronicles a piece of history, the Oklahoma Dust Bowl, to be exact. We watch as Billie Jo, a helpless little girl, loses everyone and everything she cares for. Her mother and unborn brother? Dead. Burned to death. Her father? Alive but seemingly dead, in a trance-like state as if he is amidst a literal out-of-body experience. The man's got to grieve. Billy Jo talks, in her free-verse diary, about her family's (or what's left of it) crops being destroyed by the storms. THERE IS NO HOPE FOR ANYONE! EVERYONE DIES! I usually detest bubblegum-happy endings that I sometimes find in YA fluff I'm often drawn to at Borders and Barnes, but I was almost wishing for a happy ending in poor little Billie Jo's case. Hesse seems drawn to depressing topics - maybe everyone around her croaked, who knows? She is talented, I'll give her that - and I do rather like LETTERS TO RIFKA, which I would recommend instead of this book.

it's a good story:
Recommendation- I recommend this book to anyone that's 13 years old and up because the first part of the story is emotional. Billy's mom died. "Ma died that day giving birth to my brother." Billy's mom died because of the fire in which she was burned badly. This is why I recommend this book to older kids. I like this book because when people that are close to you pass away it shows how you can get on with your live. "I was invited to graduation, to play the piano." This citation shows that people start to think that Billy is normal, and she can play the piano again.

NO GO FOR BILLIE JO:
I'm sorry but unless you are looking to throw yourself in a state of depression, this book is of no use to you. The story is about a girl who loses almost everything she has in a fire taking place around the time of the Dust Bowl. Sounds happy, huh? And when I say that the girl, Billie Jo, loses almost everything, which is closer to 'everything' than 'almost', I mean, she loses almost everything. Family? Her mother and unborn brother die in a kitchen fire, and the saddest part is that their deaths could have been prevented if Billie Jo hadn't flung boiling water out the door her mother had been walking through, and as you might imagine, that causes grief for Billie Jo, and her father as well. In fact, he goes on to become an alcoholic, or something like it, who lives in oblivion to pretty much everything. Even Billie Jo suffers from physical pain, when her hands were severely burned from the pot of boiling water she had unintentionally flung at her mother, causing her death. Belongings? Well, her family, or as the previous reviewer put it, 'what was left of it'..(I give you credit, whoever you are!) ...lost their fields, which were their main staple of income, in the dust bowl. Now, you might think that I'm exaggerating, but I assure you I am not. Before I had read it, my friends had told me how sick a book this was (and darn it, I couldn't agree more) and I just read it because I thought THEY were the ones exaggerating. So, you can be like me, If you wish, and go along and read it, which might not be such a bad idea, so you can get a taste for yourself how morally depressing this book is, or you can play it safe and not risk the nightmares.

Excellent book. Makes you think about what you have.:
I read Out of The Dust when i was probably 11, and i LOVED it! For me, i love stories with a lot of drama and stories that make me cry. Some people don't like that feeling when reading a book. like i said though, i like it. As well as tears, there were also some laughs. it's a quick read and deffinately a good one!

A Very Good Story:
I think the book was good. It made me think about how tough it was living through dust storms and living without a mom and without a little brother. Living without a mom that teaches you piano lessons and having those lessons dissappear when she dies is really hard. So she's trying to move on and regain those lessons and memories.